searching for spirits
by kyolvr
Summary: Forgetting is an easy thing to do. Shrinking isn't. When Chihiro finds herself back in the spirit world with yet another problem on her hands whats going to happen? Full sumary inside, please R&R?
1. Chapter 1

Yes Chihiro and her new familly move back into the old neighborhood and the about twenty-two year old woman uncovers something from her past. Memories of that childhood visit to the broken down theme park rush back to her with the new found item. Now with the interest of digging up her past once more Chihiro sets out to find the river spirit she met so long ago. But a new adventure awaits her when she returns to the bath house of the spirits, not everything went down as the river spirit had planned, and he needs her help now!

**Authers note**: This idea's beein stuck in my head for ever and I finally decided to put it down on paper.

**Disclaimer:** Hayao Miyazaki. He created spirited away. Sadly i just write fan fics about it.

* * *

"_There's no water here I can walk across now!"_

"_But I can't go any further, just go back the way you came you'll be fine. But you have to promise not to look back, not until you've passed the tunnel."_

"_But what about you, what'll you do?"_

"_Don't worry I'll go back and have a talk with Yubaba. I'll tell her I'm going to quite being her apprentice. I'm fine I've got my name back!" _

"_But will we meet again sometime?"_

"_I'm sure we will."_

"_Promise?"_

"_Promise. Now go and don't look back."_

_The two hands separated and the brown haired girl slid down the green hill to meet her parents waiting at the bottom. She left the blue haired boy staring after her pleasantly. She had found her way out of the mess she had gotten in and her adventure was coming to a close. _

"_Chihiro where have you been!" The girl's parents had begun talking to her as if nothing had happened. The brown haired girl answered their questions absentmindedly._

_She thought of looking back thinking maybe, just maybe it was all a dream. Though she decided against that. No way was it a dream, it had to have been real._

_As she turned, her hair sparkled and the hair tie made by her friends, provided proof that it was not just a dream._

.0

"Mom!"

Chihiro had grown into an adult; she was much taller and had filled out, no longer a skinny young girl but a woman with curve. She had kept her hair long; the only change being her bangs had grown out. She had also grown out of living in her parent's house, although now she found herself in front of it, with all of her luggage from her apartment.

"Chihiro dear, how are you?"

Her parents too, had grown older, now sporting wrinkles and white hair they stood in front of the blue house at the end of the drive.

Chihiro embraced both of her parents individually, happy to see them.

"The old house looks like new! I'm so glad to get a chance to live here again!" Chihiro smiled looking up at the blue house.

"It's time we move on to another, smaller house. This one's just getting too big to handle." Her father spoke in his boisterous manner.

"Dad, I don't think the house is getting bigger…" Said Chihiro putting a hand to her mouth worriedly before her mother let out a laugh.

"Well, let's see how little Mitsuki likes the place hmm?" the old woman suggested moving her gaze to the green car behind them.

"Oh, Mitsuki? She fell asleep about half way through the trip." Chihiro said turning to the car as well.

Chihiro moved to the vehicle and opened the back door, showing off a softly breathing lump under a blue knit blanket. She shook the small thing gently and the little girl beneath rose slowly.

Mitsuki yawned and looked up at her mother with tired eyes. It wasn't long before the tired turned to excitement as she saw where they were. "Granny! Papa!" The girl shouted as she got out of the car and ran to hug her grandparents. "Mommy, Mommy we're really going to live in Granny and Papa's house?"

"Of course we are sweetie that's why we're here isn't it?" Chihiro said. Mitsuki was a smaller version of her mother, save for the green eyes that were a mystery to all parts of Chihiro's family.

"Well Chihiro, we'd better be going I want to get to our new home before the movers do." Chihiro's mother had always been a perfectionist, always showing up early, and moving was no exception. So they said their goodbyes and the older couple departed.

"C'mon Miky, let's go on inside!" Chihiro said, though it was unnecessary, her daughter had already found her way into the house. So the woman merely fallowed.

The house looked the same as when she had lived in it in her youth. The only difference, besides the boxes everywhere was that she was no longer a child. And instead of her running around while her parents watched with pleasant faces, she was the parent, watching her own three year old daughter.

"Mommy, le's go see my room, 'kay?" Mitsuki tugged on Chihiro's shorts, then she smiled before picking up one of the smaller boxes and rushed up a flight of stairs nearby.

Chihiro fallowed after her daughter grabbing a box labeled 'memories'. The woman couldn't remember marking a box in that way, but there were a lot of little things she packed, it was easy to overlook one or two labels.

"Mommy this used to be you're room right? It's mine now isn't it?" The girl had pushed open a door to a small white room.

Chihiro bent down next to Mitsuki with a smile as she looked into her old room. "That's right Miky. Why don't you go on and set some of your things up, Mommy'll be back in a little bit."

The girl nodded and went into the room and began unloading things. Chihiro stood and picked up the curious box again.

The woman found her way up to the attic and put the box down there. She turned to go back down the latter she was standing on. But curiosity pulled her the rest of the way inside instead. For the life of her she couldn't remember marking a box "memories". So what was in the box? Something seemed familiar about it and she couldn't resist opening it.

It felt like everything was in slow motion for an instant as she opened the box. For a moment Chihiro held her breath, she felt the familiar childhood excitement rush through her, her heart was racing and something was nagging at her mind, her nervousness about overcame her and then, the box was open.

The box was nothing but a lot of old photos from when Chihiro was about ten. The woman's stomach dropped, she laughed disappointedly. "What was I expecting to happen anyway?" A few more laughs escaped her and she turned to leave.

But again curiosity swept over her as something sparkling in the box caught her eye. Chihiro turned once more, now positive something was out of the ordinary in the box. The object glinted again and the woman grabbed it before it vanished from sight.

The pink hair tie shivered with light and sparked a long forgotten memory in her. For a moment Chihiro became lost in thought. Flashes of a blue haired boy, a white dragon, an old witch, and other things flashed through her mind. The most vivid of the visions was a bath house. It all seemed so familiar to her and yet she knew she had never seen that blue haired boy or a white dragon. And any bath house she had ever been to did not have such an odd display of creatures venturing about.

"Mommy! C'mere I need your help!" Mitsuki's voice broke Chihiro's daze and got her out of the attic, still pondering the strange visions. In one hand she still clutched the hair tie.

Though still a bit confused, Chihiro dismissed the sights and paid mind to her child. "Yes, what is it?"

.0

The photographs began to stir after Chihiro left, they began slowly, as if a soft breeze had picked one or two up, but after a moment the wind grew faster. Soon a tornado of photographs spun around the attic, creating chaos in the musky room. After a while they formed slowly into the scales of an elegant dragon. The paper face held sadness as it looked down at the opening to the attic.

"_Chihiro."_

The voice emanated around the room as soft as an echo. It was an old woman's voice.

"_Chihiro, your love is in trouble!"_

The voice grew no louder with these words but with no answer the photo-dragon dismissed its shape. The photos fell to the ground in a disorganized heap and then one by one they fell back into the box. The ground was clean, all except for one plain white bland paper doll.

"_hurry" _


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Spirited Away, I know your all heart broken about that but deal with it!**

* * *

"Yes, Kiki, did you leave a hair tie in our house before we moved? No? Okay, sorry to bother you. Oh, you should come over some time; I'd love for you to see the house! All right bye." Chihiro hung up the old fashioned kitchen phone and looked down into her hand once more with a sigh. The band sparkled as she moved it around; a picture of the bath house was still stuck, hanging on tight in her mind.

It was like a wonderful dream, good while it lasted but it was over too quickly. Leaving them only with pictures of what the dream had been. Chihiro felt the same about the hair tie and the strange visions attached to it. But it felt more like an old memory than a dream.

As she gazed out the window something caught her eye. It was floating around in the sky; at first she thought they were birds. But they looked to flat for that. She sighed and looked up at them in wonder, trying to depict what they were exactly dreamily. Of course they were birds, but they seemed to give her the same feelings the box had.

.0

The baths were particularly crowded today and everyone was rushing around doing this chore or that errand. They hardly noticed, in their rush, that a short stumpy white haired Yubaba was grumbling past with a tray of grayish substance that resembled food.

She followed the elevators all the way up to the roof of the bath house, what she found there was open air, and more importantly a small, rectangular building. It was almost like a closet, however it was in the middle of the roof. It was windowless, and only large enough for a person of six feet to stand in it comfortably and spread their arms out in any direction.

Yubaba opened the door to this building gingerly and put on her best fake grin. "Haku, look lunch."

The light from the doorway flooded into the tiny room, it lit up on a ghostly looking boy. Kohaku flinched at the sudden exposure and inched more into the darkness. "Ko…" He whispered.

Kohaku had not grown at all for many years, his once neat hair was messy and had lost it's sheen in the darkened room, as had his skin, it was sickly and almost green in the light that was let in. His eyes had long since lost interest in his small dark world but he looked bewildered at the woman who stood before him.

"Oh dear boy, are you still doing that?" Said Yubaba, trying very hard not to let her frustration show, she grinned and put the tray down in front of him. "Now what is your name?"

"Ko..." He was persistent.

The woman turned and walked out of the small room, she closed the door angrily. "This won't do anymore." She said to herself "If not me, then perhaps her." Then she began to make patterns in the air. Soon enough a short brown haired girl appeared from the spells floating about. She clutched the bottom of an oversized green and white striped t-shirt that almost hid her pink shorts. Yubaba smiled at her work and led the illusion back into the dark room.

Seeing this phantom gave Kohaku a start, he very nearly lunged for her open arms but he was suspicious. She smiled at him lovingly and bent to his level. "Haku." He had a million things to say but nothing would come out, he merely let himself be covered in her warm embrace. "Haku won't you come out? I can't see you again until you do." The illusion said sadly.

"Now, what is your name?" The old woman loomed over Kohaku ominously.

"H-haku." He said slowly in a raspy voice that hadn't been used in quite some time. A sinister smile broke over Yubaba as a rolled contracted burned it's way into existence.

"Yes!" She snarled.

.0

"Mommy! Let's go s'plorin!" Mitsuki's voice came loud and clear on her dazed mother's ears.

Chihiro smiled at the idea and agreed. Her daughters definition of "'splorin" was to stumble down the hill until she got confused or scared of being lost. Chihiro reminded Mitsuki not to wander too far and began down the hill as well.

Mitsuki's cry's of excitement faded into background noise as Chihiro enjoyed the autumn weather. The leaves had just begun to fall and the colors were stunning. Red's and oranges and yellows hung over them like a warm blanket. There wasn't very much that the brunette woman enjoyed more than her daughter's laughter on an autumn day.

On this day, Mitsuki got all the way to the bottom of the hill, a first for the little girl. She had come to a stop abruptly and Chihiro hurried down the rest of the hill to see what she was looking at. "Mommy, what're these?" The child asked pointing at some small boxes that looked like cement blocks with holes in them. "They look like little houses!"

"They're shrines, people set them out for the spirits who dwell there." Chihiro said, she could vaguely remember her mother saying something like that as a child. Everything about the shrines and the pathway they were on brought back the same feeling that the hair tie did. There wasn't time to dwell on the dejavu, however, because her daughter had begun darting down the path.

"Mommy, mommy! Hurry!" Mitsuki called as she ran along, her mother smiled pleasantly and began to make her way down this road.

Soon enough they reached an odd looking statue in front of an old red bricked building. Mitsuki stopped and as soon as Chihiro walked up she hid behind her.

"What is that? Is it alive?" The child pointed to the statue.

"It's a statue." Chihiro said fighting off the dejavu that was plaguing her. Without any thought she was walking into the tunnel, Mitsuki, a nervous wreck, tied to her side.

"Where are we going?" Asked the three year old.

"To the end of the tunnel of course."

The tunnel was dark, the only light came from either end, it was damp and a musty smell hung in the air. The light at the end of the tunnel framed a grassy scene, rolling hills and a picturesquely clear sky of blue, almost cloudless.

They approached the end of the tunnel and felt the tug on her shirt from her daughter disappeared.

_"It's an old amusement park."_

Chihiro snapped her head around; she could have sworn she heard her father speak. Shaking her head she looked down to Mitsuki. Her eyes widened. No Mitsuki.

Worry pulsed through her as she looked around but her daughter was nowhere to be seen. "She wouldn't have gone back through the tunnel alone." But her daughter had disappeared.

The mother began a frantic search for her daughter but the further she got from the tunnel the less she remembered what she was doing. By the time she reached the remains of what was once a stream she had completely forgotten the reason for her search.

As she stared at the rock bed curiosity took over, it all looked very familiar to her, the landscape was almost pulling her forward. She crossed the old river and walked in a daze to the town ahead.

There were restaurants lining either side of the street she walked down, no one was manning them, of course. Eventually she came upon a buffet with food piled almost to the ceiling. Once again, visions sprang up, this time of her mother and father boorishly eating the dishes in front of them. "They shouldn't..." She trailed off, only to be answered by the illusion.

_Don't worry, daddy's got credit cards and cash_

And then they were pigs. The vision was startling and familiar; Chihiro shook her head free of it and kept walking. It wasn't long before she came upon a bath house.

Another set of videos began playing behind her eyes. The blue haired boy, accompanied with dark figures, and a man with eight arms. The visions just kept stabbing at her, demanding her attention, they were so obscure they had to be a dream. Yet that's not how they felt.

Without realizing it she had stepped closer to the bath house, when she looked up her eyes were met by a familiar face. Staring her down were two people that had seemingly appeared from her memory. The first was the blue haired boy that had been highlighted in many of her visions. And the second, a smaller version of herself.

For a moment she stared in awe back into the eyes of the boy who seemed just as astonished as she was. The world was still and her mind was thrown into a whirlwind of confusion, then, as if kicked into high gear she turned and ran as the young Chihiro burst out yelling.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**Alright, it either didn't take as long this time or i just remembered it more this time either way it's chap three! Yaay, anyway, I should be updating more quickly now that I've gotten back into the story line, so look forward to that!

**Disclaimer: **I dont own Spirited away, and if I did happen to appear in Hayo Miyazaki's body I would put a kiss between the main characters!

* * *

Chihiro ran and ran, the dark creatures from her vision began to appear which only made her fear worsen. She looked back once only to see that no one had followed her, it didn't slow her down though. Her visions were becoming reality and she suspected insanity by this time. 

Her plan was to run back through the tunnel and home to forget what had happened. She realized that was an impossibility when she found herself knee deep in water with no sign of land in sight. Backing out of the water she fell back into a sitting position staring in wonder at the approaching boat.

Chihiro felt water sting her eyes as the memories of her visit flooded back to her. It seemed the boat and lake had triggered her memory. How in the world could she have forgotten it? Even now after all these years it was so vivid! Kohaku...She simply crumbled then swallowed up in sobs. She had even forgotten the one she'd fallen in love with! Chihiro felt horrible and mad at herself for forgetting all of that, yet it didn't seem quite right. Chihiro hadn't been one to forget things, even as a child. She remembered everything about her first day at the new house. Or so she thought.

Sniffing, she wiped her eyes clear of tears and tried to collect her thoughts. This was her second time in the spirit world. Kohaku had not kept his promise, nor had he grown at all. A dopple ganger of her younger self was running amok, and something smelled like Yubaba's tricks. All this added up to one thing; a very confused Chihiro.

"I've been gone far to long." She concluded getting to her feet and clearing away a few stray tears. Kamaji would know what to do. Therefore she knew where to go. Chihiro was headed to the boiler room to find out what had gone on within her nine year absence.

It would take stealth though, she remembered she had to hold her breath across the bridge and hoped that she wouldn't begin to disappear like last time.

She blinked for a moment, "Kohaku was responsible for my invisibility." She said kicking herself, how was she supposed to get passed Yubaba's drones? "I'll try holding my breath and if that doesn't work..."

What if that didn't work? She shook her head, she would figure something out.

Now set, Chihiro stood and walked towards the amusement park once more. She got to the bridge and was excited but felt numb.

Thoughts pressed at her mind, what if she was going to wake up any minute and she'd dreamt everything? Even Kohaku? She shuddered. It saddened her too deeply to think about that. Feeling water forming in her eyes she took a deep breath and ruled that as an impossibility before holding a large breath and walking forward. Chihiro seemed to be unnoticed, good. It was also good that she was used to these creatures by now because the oddest omelet looking thing had just walked by her. A younger Chihiro would have lost her breath at this. But the current Chihiro was baffled by something slightly different.

Her level of view was slowly growing lower and lower as she progressed down the bridge. She got to the end and realized that she had to look up to see the omelet spirit.

"Did I shrink!" She let out in a short shout before covering her mouth.

She sounded like she did as a child! How was that possible? Then again she did have her very name stolen from her in the past.

Shaking her head Chihiro decided to tackle that later. So off she went to find the boiler room.

People seemed to notice her now and seemed almost...frightened. But how could that be? She wondered if she had somehow made enemy's on her last visit.

She pressed onward to the long stairway still wondering, but staring down it, Chihiro felt somewhat at home. She remembered all the times she walked up and down it and let a sad smile pass her lips before she began down them. Reaching the bottom the girl looked up, she half expected an overgrown frog to appear from the window and puff out a cloud of smoke.

_That was different_

The kitchen beyond that window seemed deadly silent. It gave Chihiro chills for it to be that silent, so she went on.

"Kamaji!" Chihiro said warmly as she burst through the boiler room doors. The small dust balls weren't out at the moment and the boiler man seemed older somehow.

Kamaji looked to her for a moment before his eyes widened and then sharpened. "What do you want, parasite!?"

"Parasite? What are you saying Kamaji? It's me, Chihiro!"

before Kamaji could answer a wood block plummeted down in front of his face and he hit a hammer against a large pan to signal the fuzzy black creatures out.

Chihiro Stared at him dumbfounded before he looked to her in rage.

"What are you doing still here, GET OUT!"

The sheer volume of his voice sent Chihiro fumbling back for the door.

The cold night air hit Chihiro's face suddenly and she panted in fear. "What is happening around here?!" She heard her voice echo before her legs gave out and she sank to a sitting position.

What was happening? What had happened? Everyone, even Kamaji had stared as if she was a plague! None of it made sense to her. Chihiro clanked her head against the wall behind and tried to think. Could this have had anything to do with the dopple ganger she had seen earlier?

"Sen?"

The voice was to familiar to ignore, Chihiro whipped her head around to find Kohaku staring at her confused.

He began to studded, "Weren't you just- how did you get...?" He stumbled down the rest of the stairs and fell to his knees next to her. His hair was lackluster and his skin was pale. Chihro felt something terribly wrong in that.

She lifted her hand and placed it on his cheek airily. Slightly overwhelmed Chihiro shivered a bit at feeling how cold he was, in the past he had always been so warm. The helpless expression Kohaku had, made him look much weaker than she knew he was. Chihiro couldn't bring herself to say anything though she had so much to ask, so they stayed there in silence.

Why are you still here!? Her mind edged her to say, but her voice was absent.

"Haku? Sen?" An old commanding voice called, it wasn't welcoming at all.

Yubaba glided down the steps and took Kohakus arm and pulled him to his feet. "haku I want you to go check the progress in the kitchen." She told him before he nodded and sped off.

Kohaku disappeared from sight before Yubaba turned cold. Taking Chihiro forcefully by the arm she let her up to her office. There Chihiro was let go and glared at.

"What are you doing here!?" The venom in Yubaba's words sunk into Chihiro so that she couldn't speak. "Well? Speak!"

Then all Chihiro could do was talk, mostly babble until she organized her thoughts over the spell induced ranting. "I don't know, I found myself here all of a sudden after going through the tunnel." Then the spell broke and silence filled the air.

"Sen!" Yubaba signaled before a dopple ganger Chihiro burst from a purple smoke "This is you. She's your enemy."

_'sen'_ Nodded before she hurried and seized Chihiro by the arms to hold her still.

"what's going on Yubaba? When I left everything was fine, why is Kohaku still here?!" Her rage filled voice would have sounded more authoritised if she weren't a child right then.

"The deal was for your freedom not his."

"But he had his name back! You couldn't control him anymore!"

"He signed the contract"

"You lift the name right off the paper! He doesn't have his real name on the pa-mm-mmm!" The unwelcome familiarity of having her mouth stolen from her sent a chill through Chihiro.

"You talk entirely too much. I see that hasn't changed. Weather Haku or Kohaku is on the paper now, he signed it then anyway, so it works." Yubaba got up and paced, rubbing her temples together. "Complicated whelp..." She muttered before looking at her captive. "You should be happy my dear, your going to where your love was until just recently."

* * *

**A/N:** Alright, so it's been a while since I watched the movie so don't kill me If the actuall name of the soot balls were in the movie and I forgot, also I don't think Kamaji actually banged on a pan in the movie...Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, and comment? Please? 


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHORS NOTES- **mmkay so this didn't come out as soon as I wanted it to but oh well. a lot of the words and phrases in here remind me of different things...I'm not sure why. So anyway I have word again!!! does happy dance for the last few chapters I've been void of word, or anything with spell check, and spell check is my friend. XD

**DISCLAIMER- **I don't own spirited away, i'm just a nerd who writes about it.

* * *

It was dark. It had to have been over an hour and Chihiro's eyes weren't seeing a thing. The room was small; she knew that at least from walking around in it. The walls were smooth and they and the floor were cold.

Now Chihiro could see why Kohaku looked and felt like he did.

It was nerve wracking to be put in a small dark room where she couldn't see anything. The girl couldn't even find the door for after a while all sense of direction was lost to her.

Feeling suddenly annoyed Chihiro stood and began circling in the room with her arms crossed muttering profanities under her breathe. She didn't have the answers she needed besides why Kohaku was still there.

0.00.0.00.0

The next thing to go was her sense of time, not long after she had felt her head on the stone she was squinting from sunlight shining in her eyes. Chihiro hadn't realized that she had even fallen asleep.

"Food!" Yubaba's dry voice echoed as she set it down.

Chihiro was to her feet quickly and trying to escape. Repelled by some invisible force, she backed up. "Why are you keeping me here!? I'm a problem aren't I? why don't you kill me then!?"

Yubaba shook her head and closed the door apparently determined to keep Chihiro in the dark.

0.00.0.00.0

It seemed longer than it really was. Chihiro never could pinpoint when she went to bed or woke up and every morning she would ask how long she had been there. A week had passed and Chihiro had begun to wonder if she would ever see more light that Yubaba permitted again.

"Food!" The familiar word resounded in Chihiro's head.

"Howlonsitben?" The words came out cracked and pushed together as always.

"Today makes two weeks dear."

She'd lost count again.

As always Chihiro let Yubaba close the door without touching her food. The girl sat staring at a crack in the wall for a moment. "Wait…" She drawled slowly. She couldn't see anything normally but there was some sort of light.

Looking around the light revealed itself to be a glowing scrap of paper. It looked like a paper doll and that made something click. "Granny?"

_That was a good memory._

The woman as a whole was wonderful! And now one of her paper dolls somehow made it to the room. Chihiro's heart skipped a beat as the doll began to twitch and then a replica of Yubaba appeared.

"Granny!" Chihiro jumped to her feet in excitement

"So this is what she's doing instead of turning people into pigs?" It was a rhetorical question, there was not doubt that she was still doing that.

"Granny, what's been happening?" It was the most that Chihiro had used her voice in a long while and it rasped.

"Well dear, I swear my sisters trying to dig her self an early grave! When you left Kohaku came and tried to leave as well, to follow after you."

Zaniba paused for a moment and Chihiro looked on in amazement. Being shut off in a dark room gave a person quite some time to think. Chihiro had begun to wonder if Kohaku had ever planned to fulfill his promise. A weight seemed to lift from her shoulders and the hologram went on.

"But when he told her that he was quitting she locked him in here. I'll tell you one thing, it successfully made everyone her enemy, but no one would or could stand up to Yubaba's magic. I've been trying to contact you for nine years! The spell was a stubborn one if I do say so myself!"

"Wait. A spell?"

"To make you forget about the spirit world."

"You mean Yubaba's magic reached me even out there!?"

"Not Yubaba, dear." Zaniba looked grim and Chihiro tried to ask who it could possibly have been but she was cut off. "Anyway, you're the only one who can save Kohaku from Yubaba's clutches. To escape wait a while longer then take the paper doll I'm embodied in now. Push it against the door and press two fingers on it."

Then she was gone and the small glowing piece of paper was left on the ground. Chihiro picked it up and waited for what seemed like hours before she put the paper doll against what she hoped was the door and put two fingers against it.

To her immense surprise Chihiro found herself sliding through the wall into thin air. What she thought was the door was apparently not. "Uh…ah," and there a scream was set free. The girl's eyes were squinted closed so tightly she could hear only the wind whooshing by her ears. Then suddenly, abruptly-

Stop.

Nothing rushed past her ears, she no longer felt the sensation of falling, and the only thing that filled her ears was the sound of wings flapping. One thought filled her immediately; Chihiro quickly looked up only to have her hopes dashed. The paper doll had sprouted huge wings and was carrying her through the sky.

"Kohaku doesn't have wings…" She remembered at once.

None the less she was happy not to be falling anymore and instead wafting to the ground. Briefly Chihiro wondered where she was being taken before she landed on the ground just outside the bath house. She let go of the paper doll and once again Zaniba appeared now holding a berry. It looked much the same as the one Kohaku had given her when she came.

"Eat this dear."

Chihiro took the berry without question and ate it. Immediately an alarmed confusion struck her as she realized the berry's affect. It worked quickly too.

"I'm afraid my house won't be of much assistance as a safe haven right now." She said before Chihiro understood why she was slowly disappearing. "You'll still be here, just unseen. Don't worry, it's temporary."

"Okay, so when will it wear off?" Chihiro asked before reading the apology on Zaniba's face.

"It's still unknown to me how long exactly because I just made it." She said and Chihiro let out a sigh.

"Well I'll look out for that."

"As will I dear. Now I have some things to attend to. Goodbye!"

Then Zaniba was gone and Chihiro was left alone. For a moment she was lost a purpose and was slightly confused as to where to go. She decided to find some of her old friends, and see how they were, then shadow her double ganger for a while.

The small bit of information that Zaniba gave her had given Chihiro raised many questions. Top in her head was whose spell had caused her to forget? Chihiro shook her head and pushed that to the side, trading it for a more reasonable question.

What was Yubaba after? This whole scheme was too elaborate for simply keeping an employee. Chihiro Decided that was a good place to start, but that too, she pushed aside for a different cause.

"To the boiler room!" She said decidedly, finding her voice had an airy wind like quality that only she could hear. She found that very amusing and began to hum on her way down to the hot room.

0.00.0.00.0

Upon entering the boiler room Chihiro found herself standing and scolding Kamaji and Lin.

"You are not to go anywhere near Haku! If he comes to you, you address him as Haku, and give him no more information that needed!" Sen's voice didn't sound like Chihiro's at all, it was cruel and cold.

Lin and Kamaji nodded, looking slightly dumbstruck. Sen shot a nasty look to the little soot balls that glared at her then left.

The evil feeling in the air lifted and Lin and Kamaji, as well as the soot balls relaxed.

"Yubaba's gone too far, making a _Sen_!" Lin said in disgust. "Just because she doesn't want Chihiro to know that she's-"

"Chihiro's bound to be drawn back here sooner or later." Kamaji cut her off with a hopeless grumble.

"Let's hope sooner than later." Lin shook her head before taking Kamaji's bowl and exiting.

More questions, _"know that she's…" _What? Chihiro was falling more and more into confusion and it was frustrating. For a moment she stared at the puffs of black doing their job. Then she snapped out of it and fallowed after Lin.

Chihiro let out an aggravated sigh for she was unable to find her old mentor. Of course she didn't really need Lin to navigate through the bath house for her.

Then she spotted something very interesting.


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:**I don't own spirited away

* * *

This was a sight for sore eyes! He had gone through quite a growth spurt! Or he shrank, well; he had changed none the less! Chihiro stared at the once very large baby in awe. He couldn't have been more than twelve and yet he was taller than she would have been even as an adult. He was muscular too. This boy looked like a grown man.

For a moment Chihiro found herself calling out to him before she remembered that she couldn't be heard. The odd thing was, he seemed to react. His eye's widened and he ran over to Chihiro. Scooping her up into a bone crushing hug, he sent the girl for a loop. He had…seen her?

"W-wait!" Chihiro managed to choke out before he let her go. "How can you see me?" She asked in surprise which was met by knowing. The large boy led Chihiro outside and leaned against the wall.

"Well I can see things that a lot of people can't.: He _sounded _like a twelve year old, which was extremely odd in proportion to his body. "Mama says I'm special because of it."

"Wait, Bo can Yubaba see what you see!?" Chihiro asked concerned and afraid.

"No, If auntie made it then mama definitely won't be able to see you." Bo said kicking his feet around. "But why are you back?"

"To stop Sen and Yubaba!" Chihiro said firmly set on that knowledge.

"But how did you get here?"

The girl was stopped suddenly, now trying to recall. "I was chasing…something g…" She remembered that, but couldn't for the life of her remember what.

"Did you find it?: He asked curiously kicking off the wall childishly.

"I…Don't know…"

"Oh….Well you wanna get mama and Sen right? I can take you to them!"

As Bo led Chihiro through the congested halls it began to bother her. What had she been looking for? It had made absolutely no sense why she hadn't remembered. Could it have been that when her memories came back, what she had been thinking of at the time had been wiped away? OR perhaps she hadn't been searching for anything, and that was the dream.

Chihiro was still deep in thought when they came to an abrupt stop in the lavish office where so many bad memories were stored. She quickly pictured in her mind a bloody dragon, a name lifting right off of the piece of paper, and a trap door leading to other perils. A quick shiver ran up her spine upon remembering these occurrences, then another upon realizing her present company.

"Mama! I'm hungry!" Bo whined and made a casual move to push Chihiro up in the room to see her surroundings.

Yubaba moved to baby her son and Chihiro stumbled away and looked to her twin, who hadn't moved from the side of Yubaba's desk. Her plan was moving more smoothly then the young woman would have guessed. As the old woman have Sen and order to stay while she doted on her son, Chihiro noticed some things that had changed.

There was a door in place of the curtains that had once served as a gateway to Bo's large room. In addiction the baby toys he once had were strewn all over Yubaba's office. Chihiro couldn't help but laugh at the old woman's clinginess.

Suddenly, Chihiro's reunion was cut short by a hand slamming down on Yubaba's desk. Sen was staring straight at Chihiro, about to say something.

* * *

**A/N: **preview for next chapter!!!

_Chihiro was frozen to the wal wondering how Sen had seen her. The dopple ganger let a smile perk on her face before she spoke._

_"Things are working out according to my ultimate design.." She laughed for a moment, "Soon I'll have that little mermaid and the ocean will be mine!!"_

Yeah...about that...sorry fake preview I just couldn't resist! But since this Chap is really...really really, short another one is comming really soon! Promise!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:**Tada! Another chap, on the very same day! woohoo! I'm tired now.

**DISCLAIMER:**I don't own spirited away

* * *

Chihiro was frozen to the wall wondering how Sen had seen her. The dopple ganger let a smile perk on her face before she spoke.

"Hmmm, Yubaba, Yubaba, Yubaba!" She chanted and looked away from Chihiro so the girl could relax. "Such a fool, leaving me alone here…" Sen mumbled and began to fumble around the back of Yubaba's desk.

The invisible girl crept slowly to the other side of the desk in amazement; she wondered why Yubaba had given Sen a mind. The visible girls hand stopped at the droor before opening it and taking out a whistle.

Sen pressed it to her lips and blew out.

No sound.

Yet something responded to it, the three green heads that had bothered Chihiro so much came rolling from a corner and fell in line.

"Hello boys." Sen said with a grin as she lowered herself into Yubaba's chair. "The views nice from here."

In the times she had heard Sen talking before Chihiro knew she did not sound like her. Sen had a young soprano voice with hints of the devil in her sentences. For a moment, Chihiro wondered how Kohaku believed that Sen was her. But the young woman's thoughts were cut short by a low, growling voice.

"We wouldn't know mistress." It matched the first green heads lips precisely, he was being sarcastic.

"Now now, I gave you that voice and it would make me nothing but stronger to take it away again. So remember to say something smart, okay?" Sen said with a threat wound into her pleasant features and pleasing tone. The head was silent and seemingly out of things to say for the moment.

"What do you wish from us today mistress?" A tenor of the heads asked timidly.

"Ah what a smart question! I would like you to keep and eye on Yubaba's son, he's never liked me, and I'm afraid that he's up to something."

There went Chihiro's only ally! The heads left the room and Sen was back to searching the desk. This time she brought out a folded piece of paper and unfolded it. Chihiro moved forward to see what it was when her enemy put it down.

"A deed?" Chihiro whispered astonished at what she saw, it was a deed to the bath house, but why would it be in such an easily accessible place. Her eyes swam down the battered parchment, to the name of the one who would inherit the place after Yubaba. She was curious, after all, Yubaba was very old and Bo was definitely not old enough to inherit anything. Maybe an aunt or uncle… Chihiro's eyes hadn't glanced past the first paragraph before the whole paper was refolded and shoved in the droor it came from.

Sen was back on her feet beside Yubaba's desk and the door was open. The old woman stood at the entrance looking quite annoyed. "Our little princess has escaped and, no doubt with the help of my blasted sister!" Yubaba began to fume.

Chihiro _had_ been wondering why Sen wasn't out looking for her.

"Go find her! I've got to pay a visit to Zaniba."

"Mistress?" Sen questioned why Yubaba had to go.

"To get some answers!" Then Yubaba was gone in a haze of smoke, leaving Sen alone.

"Heh, this is perfect, that little brat is working quite well with me!" Sen began to laugh as she found the whistle and some string. Blowing on it got the green heads back in the room. "Sen gave them orders to find Chihiro and bring Bo to them, Bo first then start the hunt. The heads rolled out of the room and Sen retired to Yubaba's desk.

0.00.0.00.0

Zaniba was reading a cook book while Noface tidied up the kitchen when a harsh knock shattered the quiet. A stirring noise came from the back room as a result.

"Noface dear, will you go check on her? It would appear that we have company."

Noface nodded and disappeared before Zaniba appeared before the door and let a fuming twin in.

"I might've known you'd be the cause of all this!" Yubaba raged barging in to the hut.

"What are you talking about? And please, would you lower you voice? Someone's sleeping." Zaniba said closing the front door.

"What am I talking about? You led that girl back here! On top of that you helped her escape!"

"I may have helped her escape but I did not lead her back here." Zaniba took a seat and Yubaba fallowed.

Now slightly confused but none the less mad, Yubaba stared at her sister. "Who led her back then?"

0.00.0.00.0

"What do you want with me?" The overgrown twelve-year old demanded as he was ushered into Yubaba's office by three heads.

"Sweetheart, I want to know something from you is all." Sen said in a nauseatingly sweet tone. Chihiro, now by the doors felt disgusted by this use of her voice and face, as it was so easy to see through the deception.

"You'll get nothing you want-not even anything trivial-out of me!"

"All I want to know is if you've seen our princess, you know, looks like me?" Sen pointed a finger to her face.

Bo's eyes flitted to the corner Chihiro was in for a moment before covering the action by looking down at the heads in front of her and then back to Sen. "The correct wording is '_I look like.' _"

The boy was serious about not giving away any information that was sure, and Sen wasn't looking to happy. "Aw, sweetie, don't you like me? I am one of your mummy's own creations after all!" She had a mock pout now that nearly drove Chihiro's fist to her face.

"Nope, tell you the truth I'm not to fond of my 'mummy' either!"

That was a lie; Bo may not have been fond of Sen but his _mother _he adored. Chihiro knew that for a fact, he was spoiled but he had a bit of a mother complex.

"Pity, and I was going to keep you around as an errand boy too. Oh well, guess that's the way things go." There was no hint of acting in Sen anymore, she was serious now.

A trap door opened under Bo's feet and he dropped through it, letting out a horse yelp as he went. Chihiro's stomach dropped upon witnessing this and for a moment she lost control and found herself barreling after him. She got three steps before regaining herself and remembering that by following him into a dead end trap door she wouldn't be able to do anything for Kohaku and the rest.

Not a moment had Bo been gone before another Bo took his place. Chihiro looked in amazement to Sen who looked quite faint after making another fully grown twelve year old. It was bad enough that the illusion had a mind of her own but also magic?

The illusions were sharing smirks when the door opened once again and Chihiro's heart skipped a beat. Kohaku walked in, the same guarded expression Chihiro had remembered him having whenever he came into this place on his face. That melted away the moment he saw that his tormentor wasn't around-or so he had been deceived to think.

A fake, pleasant smile sprawled across his lips to hide something from Bo. "Have you two gotten over your small differences?"

"Oh yes! Of course we have." Sen said hopping up from behind the desk to give Bo a hug which the illusion returned. The she hurried him out of the room and returned to face Kohaku. She went and sat on Yubaba's desk and Kohaku's expression immediately changed to a hopelessly desperate one.

It was as if every second, he was afraid that the girl he loved would pop away from him and leave him in darkness again. Chihiro grasped this all too quickly as she felt hatred building up inside her for Sen's deceit. Then disgust as Kohaku dropped to a kneel and placed his head on the imposters knees.

She stroked the boy's musty hair as if he was her pet, and he was for all Chihiro had grasped. To Sen, he was a pet, and errand boy, and probably a tool.

"Where's the mistress?" Kohaku had never called Yubaba that before.

"Out talking to Zaniba, I'm not sure why though, something about jam I think." Sen lied so easily.

"You won't leave right?" He asked, a pleading in his voice. Chihiro had to use all her might to resist going to him and trying to nock some sense into him.

"Of course not! I waited for you to long to leave you." Sen had sweetness layered thick in her voice and it bothered Chihiro.

It was almost at the point where Chihiro couldn't bear when Kohaku asked something intriguing.

"You never fully explained what that other image of you was back then. Will you tell me now?" He surely spoke of the run in they had had on the bridge when Chihiro first came back.

"Oh come now, Haku, it's nothing for you to worry about, it would just put more stress on you to know."

The boy seemed content with that answer, if not a little unhappy as it seemed he had received this answer quite a lot.

"IT WAS ME! KOHAKU!! STOP LEANING ON HER! SEE ME!!" Chihiro couldn't hold her self back any longer. She ran to where the boy was and placed a hand on his back.

He didn't feel it. There was no change in his posture, or expression. He hadn't even heard her.

Feeling tears well up in her eye's she reminded herself that this wasn't the time to cry but sank to the ground beside the boy anyway and succumbed to her feelings.

She felt so useless! Like a ghost trying to fix something so that they could live on. She was invisible so that she could gather information but this was something she did not want to see. She could have lived without this scene implanted in her mind. So close to her love, and yet so utterly useless.

Chihiro could feel that Kohaku was scared, of Yubaba, of the dark room, and mostly of loosing the illusion of a girl he loved. Chihiro wanted so badly to hear some sort of words that told her that he didn't believe Sen was real. Anything along those lines would have been fine, but instead she was shattered more.

"The last time you were here…in the spirit world I couldn't tell you, I didn't want you to leave."

"I know that already, but you told me to go anyway. I returned though didn't I? I was very early as well; you just wouldn't come out of the black room."

"All that time I was regretting our last meeting, I couldn't say what I was shouting in my mind."

"What was that?" An amused curiosity echoed in Sen's tone.

"I love you."

Chihiro looked up from her knees, to the boy who was now looking up to the fake. She felt betrayed even though she knew he hadn't meant to do anything to her. But what was worse, was the feeling sent by the imposter.

"I love you too, Haku. I always have."

No longer could Chihiro stand the undetectable mock in Sen's voice. She barreled out of the room uncaring that the sudden opening and closing of the doors would draw attention. The girl needed to escape the situation that put a sledge hammer hovering above her chest. There was nothing she could do to stop that situation from happening as things currently were! The realization crashed down on her and she couldn't breathe, suddenly she was pushed up against the wall of the down going lift by the force of her emotions alone.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer- I do not own Spirited away.

* * *

Chihiro rode the lifts for hours, the passengers and their senseless chatter became background to her sobs and curses. When she finally began to calm down the girl realized that she probably would have been able to find out what was important about the deed had she been strong enough to stay. The girl was beginning to feel that everything she'd been doing was destined to fail. Even if she got her answers, how would she be able to save Kohaku? He was so desperately broken by the black room that he was willing to deceive himself into thinking that that devil in disguise was the real thing.

Feeling a sense of defeat from these thoughts Chihiro looked up, it was all she could do to keep from crying again. To her surprise, Yubaba came stomping into the lift with a pinched expression on her face and venom sparks flying from her mouth.

"Zaniba…That witch! She'll never tell me anything…" She muttered under her breath in a deadly tone that ran shivers up Chihiro's spine. All at once she wanted to barrel out the elevator doors to see her Granny and no face and everyone else. She would drink sweat tea and eat cookies and curl up by the fire while no face helped Granny knit something for her hair. It sounded so nice, and the girl was lost in this warm place when the lift doors opened again. The sound snapped her back into reality and she knew that she couldn't do any of that until this ordeal was over.

This time the blue haired boy that made her heart seer walked in for a fraction of a second his face betrayed his emotion. It was subtle enough that none of the guests would notice him but Chihiro could see through him, he was thinking about Sen. Immediately when he saw Yubaba however, he placed that familiar face that didn't make Chihiro hurt so much on and greeted her, "Mistress."

"Haku," the woman replied irritated.

The rest of the lift ride up was served in silence as more passengers boarded and shuffled off. Yubaba got off at the top floor where her office was and the lift started down again. In reaction to his boss' absence Kohaku slid to the back of the lift and let gravity push him into a sit next to Chihiro. He stared at the ceiling for a while as the familiar '_ding, shuffle shuffle shhhhhh ding' _played in the background. The boy didn't seem to be thinking about anything, or he was thinking about entirely too much. Either way Chihiro couldn't stand to look away from him. The door opened and let two spirits off and closed again without letting anything back on and continued downward.

Then out of nowhere a _SLAM_ Clipped to the right of Chihiro, making her jump, she had been so concentrated on her thoughts that she hadn't realized him. Kohaku held the face of an embittered young man as he stared ahead of him. The girl was surprised to see this, as she had thought he was completely broken though. He let out a brief joyless chuckle before he stood and brushed himself off. Chihiro followed suit and stood as well the lift came open on the bottom floor just as he mumbled, "They're never going to tell me a thing." This sent Chihiro into fits of confusion; she was left with no other option but to follow him as he embarked on his journey through bath house. The boy led her around as he routinely checked every place he needed and then headed for the stairs that would lead him to the boiler room.

Chihiro found herself getting exited at the prospect of speaking to Kamaji or Lin. She was also interested to see how they acted towards Kohaku; he was definitely not the same as he had been before. When they arrived at the door the blue haired boy opened and preceded without bothering to look around, Chihiro followed him closely. The two found Lin and Kamaji assembled in the room eating their food as the black puffs did the same. When they saw Kohaku they stopped eating and stared at him uneasily.

"Did anyone follow you?" Lin was the first to break the silence.

"No." Kohaku answered, which wasn't exactly true.

"Well then, why are you down here?" Kamaji asked his tone was a confusing mixture of welcome and disapproval.

"Because no one above will tell me anything. I ask and…"

"And you owner gives you a dissatisfying answer that you take. You've got no one to blame but yourself." Lin said in her usual uncaring manner. Some things never changed.

"She's not my owner!" Kohaku said defensively.

"As long as you obey her she is." Said Lin as her temper flared.

"You obey her too." The boy retaliated in a timid fashion, in the past he would have been much more, well alive.

"We don't grovel at her feet as if she was real."

"Lin…" Kamaji cut in, being the voice of reason between the two.

"I know she's not real..." Kohaku said looking at the ground defeated. "I just can't let go of her, the real Sen may never come back and that room…" He sounded close to tears which was unusual for such a strong person.

What struck Chihiro the most was the name he used, the real Sen? Had he forgotten her name as well? This was a much more dire situation that she had thought it to be.

"We know, we know. You can't go back there, you already look a mess, and heaven knows we don't want you there either." Lin said, finally showing some compassion.

"I asked her about the other Sen I saw but she just told me…"

"Other Sen?" Kamaji said, stopping his sentence abruptly.

"Yes, but she didn't give me any information. Knowing Yubaba it may have just been a trick though. I haven't seen a second one since." The boy answered but the boiler man wasn't listening the wheels in his head were turning and there was something that he had figured out.

"Sen had acted odd towards me as well…" Kamaji finally said. "She said her name was…" He gasped. "Why didn't I see it before, Sen wouldn't know that!" The man turned to Lin and they exchanged glances for a moment.

"But where is she? Haku you said that you haven't seen a second one since?" asked Lin.

"No, why what happened earlier?" Kohaku asked in excitement.

Chihiro noticed that Lin had used the name Haku, she didn't miss that. That must have meant that to some degree those two were also following her double gangers orders. This troubled the girl quite a bit, and in her thoughts she failed to notice that bit by bit she was becoming more visible. The Black puffs were the first to see her and they rushed to her in ecstatic waves, at least there was something that didn't think she was evil in the bath house. Her elation didn't last long because the rest of the room had seen her and were staring at her in awe.

"Is it really you?" Kamaji was the first to say. "I don't believe it, but those creatures….they hate Sen."

"Yes it's me." Chihiro was quick to return, joyful that someone recognized her.

"Prove it," Lin said. she wasn't as quick to believe as Kamaji was and Chihiro understood that.

"My name, it's not Sen. There was a time when I thought it was but not now." She turned to the blue haired boy who was staring in a state of utter confusion. "And you, your name isn't Haku it's-" She was cut off by a door opening, everyone in the room knew that that was a bad sign under any condition and they quickly stuffed Chihiro away behind the sliding wall.

It was Sen that walked in. "Ah, there you are Haku. I've been looking all over for you. The Mistress wants to see us, come on." She went over to the boy who assumed his guarded expression and followed after her. On the way out she threw a glare back at the two in the room. The look was returned by two more glares.

"That was close…" Chihiro said emerging from her hidey-hole, she didn't get much time to say more before the two turned on her.

"How did you get in here?"

"Granny made me disappear so I could gather information since you we're no help." Chihiro said pointing to Kamaji.

"What? Me?" Kamaji said surprised.

"Yes you! You threw me out the last time I was in here." The girl said defensively.

"That was you?"

"Yes!"

"Well how did you get back to this world in the first place?" Lin cut in as she crossed her arms and leaned against Kamaji's table. She was always the level headed one.

"I followed…something…through the tunnel." There it was again. The feeling that she was forgetting something, she couldn't put her finger on it. By this time her passage over the worlds seemed like a blur to her, much like it had the first time but there was something distinct missing. She shook her head pushing the feeling aside before she asked, "What's been happening around here since I've been gone?"

"Nothing good." The boiler man remarked bitterly.

"After you left Yubaba turned. She's always been sour but she's gotten worse. She locked Kohaku up in that room and none of us had any word about him until recently. After that everything got quiet around here. It was unsettling." Lin explained quietly. "Not only that, but we've had several new comers over the years like you were. They all reacquired their names quickly though. The odd thing about them is Yubaba renamed them all Chihiro."

"Really?" Chihiro asked astonished. Why would Yubaba rename all of the new comers after the brunette girl who now stood puzzled? It surely wasn't because the old woman missed her.

"Yes. You know something; I think it has something to do with the bath house. I mean eventually it has to be left to someone. Yubaba's health hasn't been looking up lately." Lin was rather intuitive and Chihiro wasn't surprised. There was a reason that she revered this woman.

"That deed…"

"The bath house used to belong to Zaniba." Kamaji said softly.

"Granny? How long ago was that?" Chihiro said in surprise, how had she never heard about this before? Granny had once owned the bath house?

This seemed to be news to Lin as well because Kamaji had room to continue talking here. "Quite a while ago. The both of them are over one hundred years old. Yubaba took the bath house from Zaniba many years ago; there was quite a battle over it. Finally Zaniba decided that the fight was useless and surrendered the bath house to Yubaba under one condition: that Yubaba would not fire or mistreat any of the employees that we're hired under her. She held to that until you left."

Finally Chihiro felt that she was making progress. "So this does have something to do with the deed." She said confidently, however everything else didn't fit. Why had all the new comers been named after her? There we're still more questions to be answered and very little that the two in front of her could tell her besides what they already had. "Well, I lost my cover so this is going to become much more complicated. I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing yet."

"I think it has something to do with the deed." Kamaji said calmly.

"So do I. I need to see that." Chihiro determined.

"It's already late. Just stay in here for tonight and we can figure all of this out tomorrow." Lin said. Chihiro quickly accepted her offer and made her way to the familiarity of the servant's chambers. The only thing different was that all of the servants seemed to shy away from the brunette, unlike what they had done in the past. So she found a place in the corner of the room and made her bed there, she didn't stay still for very long though. Chihiro had too much on her mind for that, so before she knew it she was out on the banister looking into the night sky.

It was a calming sight to see the valley and the train tracks that hadn't changed in ages. She remembered how when it rained the water would burry everything but the train in a blanket of blue. It was a beautiful sight and she wondered why she had left it in the first place. The working conditions weren't bad, and there were always friends around, the real world she had lived in was never as beautiful, or as much like home as this one was. Even as things were now she felt a sense of fulfillment just looking out at the glistening stars. Those never changed, they were always so bright and somewhere in the house Chihiro found comfort in thinking that Kohaku might be looking at them too.

She was smiling at the thought of her love when Zaniba strolled up as sat beside her looking like she had something urgent to say. "That berry didn't last long."

"Granny, hello. You never told me that you owned the bath house."

"It wasn't important for you to know, however now it is crucial to you. Yubaba is not keeping her part of our bargain. Just last night I heard her talking about firing Lin. The only reason Kamaji isn't on the chopping block is because she can't find anyone half as good as he is!" There was very little that actually angered Zaniba, but the mistreatment of people was one of the things that did. Chihiro could tell that things were bad all around, but her number one priority was making sure that Kohaku was alright. It was an awfully selfish thing but that is was how it was. At that moment the old woman next to Chihiro jumped, and retrieved a glowing paper doll from her pocket, she grumbled and turned back to the girl next to her. "I've got to go dear. I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you."

"But wait, why are you leaving?"

"Can't really explain now Chihiro, don't worry it will make sense when all of this is over." Then the woman disappeared leaving the young woman standing waiting for a reply that wasn't going to come. Eventually she went to bed.

0.

Kohaku sat in the corner of his two bedroom room in a rocking chair quietly. He stared at Sen with a hard face, the rise and fall of her body as she breathed in her slumber was unsettling to him now. After spending countless nights dreaming up gruesome deaths for his love out of worry it was surprising to the boy that he would be dissatisfied to see her alive. Of course this was not the real Sen; he knew that much, after having seen her himself and it was very hard for him to put on a believable face for this imposter. In fact it was all but impossible. If it hadn't been for the people around Sen would have realize something was wrong with him and the real one would have been in trouble.

As it was he was holding onto the hope that she wouldn't wake up and he would not have to put on a pathetic face again and this time it would be fake. His mind raced with thoughts of the real one and he wondered how he hadn't seen through the deception before, she was nothing like his love. Frustrated he decided to take a walk around the bath house and maybe calm down.

He was opening the door when the girl behind him stirred. "Haku, where are you going?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer-**I do not own Spirited away.

* * *

"Out." Kohaku replied sternly, his fists were balled out of sheer nervousness.

"Why?"

He could feel her eyes on him, piercing him; she was looking at his back as he tightened up subconsciously.

"The mistress summoned me." He bit back the mock that wanted to creep into the word mistress; there was an unmistakable change in him that he was sure the apparition would see right through. Then, out of nowhere and without him sensing any movement her hand was on his shoulder.

"Wouldn't she have summoned both of us?" Sen asked in a deliberately sweet tone. There was no hint of slumber in her voice, as though she had been awake the whole time.

"No. Just me."

The devilish brunette spun the boy around to face her; he was practically paralyzed in his footsteps. "There, now I can see your face. Why does she need you?"

Kohaku avoided eye contact with her. "She wants to see me about a mission."

Although the boy hadn't been on one of her missions since the other Sen's time he found the excuse poised on the tip of his tongue.

"Why don't I come with you?"

"No. It wouldn't be worth it. Go back to sleep." Sweat treaded down the back of his neck as he prayed she would do what he asked. Sen regarded him suspiciously before she let him go.

With an internal sigh of relief Kohaku turned and walked out the door, he could feel her eyes on him as he walked to the lifts, even as he got in and pressed the up button her eye's never left him.

The door closed and Kohaku finally felt safe to look around. He rode the lift up one floor and then took another one back down. When he reached the bottom floor and stepped out everything was quiet. The halls of the bath house were dark and it seemed as though everyone was sleeping peacefully.

There were thoughts going through Kohaku's head that hadn't been there in years. Eventually his feet took him to the female servant's quarters. The blue haired boy looked out at the scenery as he didn't dare wander into a room where a dozen or more women slept.

It was hard to restrain himself from waking up the real Sen and making her talk to him, but he knew if he talked to her it would become harder and harder to talk to the fake. If that happened he wasn't sure if he would be able to escape the dark room again.

A shutter went through the boy with that thought and his eyes were forced to the ground trying to think of some happier thought.

The thought that came to him was of the first time he had seen Sen in the spirit world. It was frantic and hurried but she was so helpless. It was adorable; he couldn't keep himself from helping her even though his duty told him to report her.

A moment passed where he reveled in those thoughts. Then he closed his eyes and all at once he was in the air, traveling. When his eyes opened again he was submerged under water just floating along in the direction that the current told him to go. It was peaceful to be in his other form, although he had a destination.

The stars were hazy behind the clouds in the sky, it told him that rain was going to come, and a lot of it. The ground would become an ocean as it did, permitting only the train to be seen skimming across the water.

Kohaku hadn't been in his dragon form since the day that Sen left. He wasn't allowed the opportunity by whatever constraints he had about him. It was liberating to be floating in the sky as a long silver sliver to anyone on the ground.

Eventually he saw the small cottage that Zaniba lived in and he began his descent. The silver scales chipped away one by one as he floated to the ground and by the time his feet touched the earth and the last of scales fell into the sky he was himself again.

Kohaku rapped at the door and waited a moment before he heard movement from inside.

"Do you know what time it is?" An angry old woman said as she answered the door with her eyes closed.

"I apologize for the hour. I can't get away any other time." Kohaku said in his business voice.

"Kohaku? Well this is a surprise! I haven't seen you since-Well come on in!"

With that the blue haired dragon was ushered into the house and sat in a chair at the kitchen table.

"Oh dear me, you really should find a time to visit before the sun goes down. You know we've all gone to bed by this time." The old woman began to fuss about the small room setting the stove ablaze and getting pots and pans out, all the while she droned on about different things.

"I saw the real Sen." The boy finally broke into her ramblings with the sentence.

"Oh you did. She didn't say that to me." Zaniba said half to herself. "Oh well I did leave awfully quickly."

"How did she get back? This has to be your doing."

"Something like that. I didn't lead her here but I gave her a message. She's here to save you Kohaku."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" The boy said looking at her; prior to that moment he had been staring straight ahead of him at the fire place.

"Calling you what?"

"Kohaku."

"Because it's your name dear." Zaniba turned to him with a cookie tray in hand. "Oh dear. It's worse than I thought; you don't even recognize yourself do you?" She put the tray down and sat at the table.

"I can't change your physical appearance just yet it would be too soon, but my, my how could you release your name again."

"My name is Haku." The boy said loudly.

"Shh you'll wake the little one! They must have taken bits of your memory too, here let me show you." Zaniba placed two fingers to the boy's forehead and he began to see things.

Immediately Haku began to relive the night he flew Sen back to the bath house. She told him about a river, named Kohaku. All at once his appearance flew away and they wafted to the ground and the light was back in the spirit's eyes. His name was Kohaku and they had filled in his river.

"How could I forget again?" Anger stormed his voice as he relived this memory.

"Even the best can be tricked dear. Don't you forget that."

"But if my name was stolen again then that means Sen probably isn't her real name either."

"No it isn't, but you'll have to remember that on your own."

Rustling came from behind a door to Kohaku's right, Zaniba stood up to go to the door but before she could get there it opened and from it protruded a smaller version of the girl he loved. The brown haired girl was in a nightgown and rubbing her eyes.

"Did we wake you sweetie?" Zaniba asked taking the young girls hand and leading her back to the table. The little girl sat across from Kohaku who stared at her incredulously.

"Who is this?" He asked with wide eyes.

"Mitsuki. She's who led your love back here, her daughter."

"Daughter? Sen isn't old enough to have children!" Kohaku stood and moved away from the table a few steps; he never took his eyes off of the sleepy little girl.

"Dear. Do you really think she's still the same age as when she left? You wouldn't have recognized her if I hadn't put her back to the age you knew her as. You too haven't grown to where you're supposed to be either but that's Yubaba's doing not mine." Zaniba said getting up from the table as well to answer the screaming tea pot.

"But, how could she have had a child?"

"You don't even remember that do you?" The woman shook her head as she poured two cups of tea and offered one to the boy. "Here this should calm you down. Come back and sit down."

Kohaku did as he was told but couldn't help but watch the girl who was now beginning to dose off in the chair. "How long was I in that room?"

"A very long time. You probably don't remember escaping twice though, Yubaba wouldn't have let you. Each time to answer that girl's call." A smile played across Zaniba's face as she said this. "That's love for you."

"Impossible, if I had escaped why would I go back?"

"Once the girl forgot about this world you had nothing left in that one to cling to, so you came back."

"Why would Sen forget about this world?"

"You'll have to remember that on your own as well." Zaniba said before she looked out the window in the door. "The sun will be up soon, you should get back."

"I don't think I can face them the same."

"Then don't face them the same. Fix this mess. You're going to need to in order to continue on living there."

"I want to leave." Kohaku said staring in the direction of the bath house. "And take Sen with me."

"They still have too much of you for you to do that. You need to get yourself back. Go talk to her, she'll help you."

"How do I know which one is real?" Kohaku asked as he twirled the cup of tea around, letting his hands betray his nervousness.

"You already do. Now go." Zaniba told him as she ushered him out of the door and on his way.

0.00.0

The bath house was already buzzing with work even though the sun had barely even risen. It was hard to tell any way because of the rain that pelted the ground. Chihiro found herself getting soaked at the bottom of the stairs to the boiler room. Hardly anyone ever went down there so it was fairly safe for her.

The water didn't make an impact on the girl, her mind was fast at work trying to find a way to work around her visibility and get back into the office to find the deed.

"How do you dispel a spell?"

Chihiro's eyes focused on the sky and she thought she saw something silver slick in the distance, she was reminded of the river spirit and her attention was immediately drawn to the vision. As it drew closer the shape defined and it became clearer and clearer that it was Kohaku, and he was heading straight for her.

As the layers of his dragon slipped away it became clear that Kohaku was headed straight for a summersault onto the platform she was on so she flattened herself against the wall and waited for him to land.

There was a thud and the blue haired boy was on the ground but he didn't stay there long, in the blink of an eye he was on his knees getting up and looking at the girl with a purpose.

"Why are you out in the rain? You'll catch a cold!" He scolded before he took her arm and pushed her back into the boiler room, they got to the main area and Kohaku ordered Kamaji to get a blanket and the promptly started drying the girl off.

"There's a little light in your eyes." The boiler man stated pleasantly without paying any mind to the boy's scolding.

"I found my name again. Unfortunately yours is still lost to me." Kohaku said looking at the bewildered girl who was wrapped in a blanket. "But it's a start!"

"Yes, it is, and Kohaku, my name's Chihiro."

"I'm never going to remember that without the memories attached."

"Oh my, this is worse than I had imagined." Kamaji cut in brooding about the situation. "Kohaku, how are do you plan on keeping up your normal attitude?"

"I don't think I can." The boy replied grimly.

"Maybe we could appeal to Yubaba?" Chihiro asked innocently.

"Appealing to Yubaba is pointless. I had to make a deal with her to give you another chance at leaving when you were here last."

"How did you do that?"

"I told her I'd get her baby back if she let you go. She had no idea Bo was missing."

There was silence for a moment before Chihiro realized something. "Bo's gone! Sen replaced him, why do you think they're so friendly now?" It was so easy to get lost in other thoughts that she had completely overlooked getting her ally back.

"That's true but Yubaba doesn't realize how powerful she made Sen. She would never believe us if we told her that a copy she made, made another copy." Kohaku said.

"Well it's worth a try right? Maybe if we got her mad enough..." Chihiro was cut off by the door opening and before she had the chance to run the three green heads rolled in making their usual sound.

All at once something tight and invisible fastened around the girl and boy and they were pulled out of the room and up the stairs.

They were met with a smirking version of Chihiro, her finger was in the position to beckon them and her eye's pierced the both of them.

"So you've found each other I see."

"My name too." Kohaku spat venom at the evil child; she didn't take kindly to his tone of voice so she took his mouth away, a trick taken right out of Yubaba's book.

"Well that's too bad. We'll just have to send you back to the black room."

This made the boys eyes tremble, it was subtle but he had a hard time hiding his horror. That room was an abomination and Chihiro knew right away that after everything was resolved the room would have to be destroyed.

"He's not going back to the black room, and neither am I. I saw what you did to Bo, and I'm sure Yubaba would be very interested in hearing all about that." Chihiro said determined to make his look stop unfortunately all she got in return was a cruel laugh.

"The woman was crazy about the baby, not the child. She doesn't care about him unless he's acting like he's an infant. I'm sure she wouldn't mind at all, she likes my version of him much better."

This surprised Chihiro and she was caught off guard as the other her pulled the couple the rest of the way up the stairs and through the bath house. The brunette wasn't surprised when she felt her mouth slip away as well.

"As luck would have it. The mistress is in today." Sen said with a sneer as she opened the double doors into the bath house owner's office.

Chihiro and Kohaku shared uneasy glances as they were pulled into the lavish office, this was the beginning of something and they knew that. What they didn't know, was the outcome.


End file.
